Watching and waiting

Americans are not entirely comfortable with the Bush administration's handling of diplomacy, and many still have concerns about going to war without UN approval. But as the nation stands on the brink of hostilities with Iraq, a substantial majority of Americans agree that Saddam Hussein represents a major threat to US security - and for many, that belief is enough to justify military action.

In the past two weeks, overall support for the war has risen slightly, to 64 percent in a new Gallup poll. More revealing, Americans now regard the ousting of Mr. Hussein as a higher priority in the war on terror than fighting Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, according to a new survey by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF).

In part, the growing support for war may stem from the fact that many Americans have come to view the conflict as inevitable, and are now simply eager to get it over with. It also reflects a common tendency to rally around the president at a time of crisis: Most experts predict support will jump even higher once the fighting begins, as it did during the previous Gulf War.

Yet it's also a measure of the ways in which the attacks of 9/11 still resonate among Americans - fostering a widespread sense of insecurity, and shaping a new national outlook on questions of defense and foreign policy. While most other nations view war with Iraq as unnecessary and even immoral, many Americans accept President Bush's argument that in an age of terror, preemptive action may be the only effective means of safeguarding the nation.

"This is a country that is primed for action to do anything that will protect them," says Bob Boorstin, director of the WorldView Initiative of the VVAF. "The administration has succeeded in making the case to the public that [war with Iraq] is a necessary step as part of the war on terrorism."

That's not to say Americans don't have doubts about the war - and even about the extent to which it will make this country safer, at least in the short run. According to the latest Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll, 61 percent of the public believes that war with Iraq will actually "hurt" the safety of Americans in the US and abroad. But at the same time, 59 percent agree that war would help make the world safer from weapons of mass destruction.

This sense of uncertainty has created an overall attitude toward war with Iraq that might be described as "permissive consensus," says Benjamin Page, an expert on public opinion at Northwestern University. "The public's not saying, 'Hey, let's go to war.' But there's a sense that, well, the leaders can do it," and no one's going to object.

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